about maison saint joseph

Just an hour from Paris and a few kilometres from the forest of Chantilly, Maison Saint-Joseph, before it became one, was three houses whose foundations date back to the 12th century. In 1649, Pierre de la Granche unified these three properties. He raised the façade, treated the recesses, aligned the windows, concealed the differences in levels of the interior landings, and harmonised them, using the classical building techniques of perspective and composition. Beyond the books and objects preserved, it is the materials, colours, and proportions that tell the story.
Then it was abandoned and forgotten.
For over twenty years now, the owners and permanent residents have been restoring it. They cultivate a world of travel, linked to the etymology and history of their trades: cabinetmaking, and the attachment to the objects that compose the place. They immerse themselves in the exploration of materials and the new forms these generate. From there, the house has been transformed once more into a laboratory, one that has housed and inspired numerous artists.
msj is the art residency of Maison Saint-Joseph, the restoration of a story that has always welcomed artists, and welcomes them still. While the house has received many artists and historical figures in its past, from the myth of Diane de Poitiers to Arnaud and Louis d’Hauterives, not forgetting Eugène Atget, whose photographs are held in the MoMA archives, and more recently Native Maqari, Simon Rouby, and the collective unnamed. Maison Saint-Joseph is above all a story of artistic friendship without limits, born of an obvious and urgent need to create together. It is a house that has welcomed artists, and continues to host them today.